


Supply and Demand

by zeteram



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Spider/Profit OTP, fractaline, more shitposting about game mechanics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22707748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeteram/pseuds/zeteram
Summary: The Spider is dubious about having an Obelisk on the Tangled Shore until he realizes what it's really for - profit.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Supply and Demand

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my clan for letting me use their characters for this.

“And why,” the Spider purred to the figure standing cross-armed below his throne, “should I allow your structure on my Shore?”

“I require an Obelisk on the Reef to stabilize the rift in time,” said the legendary Warlock’s projection. “The Dreaming City is out of the question until Riven’s curse can be dealt with. Your territory is frequented by enough Guardians to maintain it until then.”

“Yes,” said the Spider, leaning back and feigning indifference. “Those are reasons _you_ want it here. What’s in it for me?”

Osiris made a gesture with one hand that humans used to mean _for example_. “Increased Guardian traffic, which will mean easier control of your enemies. If the situation goes poorly, it will stabilize the Reef so it will avoid total subatomic destruction; if it goes well, profit for you. Need I say more?”

The Spider clicked a dead Ghost shell a few times to vent his irritation. “Fifty of your candles,” he said abruptly. “I can sell them to your cult at enough of a profit to allow your Obelisk on a _temporary_ basis. A lease on the land, no more.”

“Very well.” Osiris gestured and his Ghost, a stunningly beautiful specimen with a pointy design, transmatted in a case of candles. The Spider waved to have some of his hench-Vandals collect it.

“But I’m not guaranteeing its safety!” the Spider warned. “There are too many forces on the Shore I don’t control. You understand how it is.”

Osiris’s projection crossed its arms again. “Leave that to me.”

\----

The Spider leaned forward on his throne, clasping two of his hands together as he leered at the Hunter who was approaching. “If it isn’t my favorite Guardian! What can the Spider do for you?”

He’d seen a lot of this particular Hunter lately - a twosoul who often went around in purple-shaded Dreaming City armor, which clashed horribly with his bright orange vest. His Ghost was a delectable little thing in a two-toned shell, but it was hiding today. Pity. “Glimmer,” said the Hunter glumly, and the Spider roared with laughter.

“You? Ever since you stopped playing the Emperor’s games you’ve come to me to spend all your Glimmer, and now you need more? How _delightful_.” The Hunter’s shoulders slumped even further. “The Spider is always happy to provide--for a price.”

He could always tell when he had a customer in a bind, so after some halfhearted negotiations from the Hunter, he was several hundred Seraphite richer and sold back the Hunter a fraction of the Glimmer he’d sold to the Spider in the first place. Even better, the Hunter took a bounty for one of the Wanted escapees all the way on Mercury, muttering something about _cleaning out Osiris’s house for him_.

“I heard the Mad Prophet is up to something these days,” the Spider said idly, picking at his claws like a human might pick at their fingernails. It was a studied move to project idle curiosity, and it seemed to work well. The Hunter nodded vigorously.

“The Red Legion broke into one of his old experiments and now we have to help him stabilize the timeline,” which was old news but the Spider nodded encouragingly. Of course he already knew that - that was the whole point of that Obelisk he’d agreed to allow on his turf. He nodded to encourage the Hunter to continue. “We’re trying to generate Fractaline from the Obelisks to help increase their resonance, but if we use Glimmer and Light to infuse it first, it’s more effective.”

 _There_ was the new information he’d been looking for. The Spider let out a satisfied sigh that almost sounded like a moan of pleasure. So, Guardians were going to start wanting lots and lots of Glimmer? How… _profitable_. His minions couldn’t take Fractaline directly from the Obelisk--that required Light, which was a frustrating obstacle, but what else were all his stockpiles for, if not to let materials trickle out into the market once they were needed?

“Good,” he purred, tapping his fingers together. “Very good.”

He waved the Guardian out after finishing up the trade and started making preparations.

\----

“My favorite Guardian! Welcome to my Shore.” This one was a Titan in bright pink armor, a cheerful human that the Spider was fond of entirely because she was _terrible_ at math - so bad she always had to have her Ghost out to help her, a little morsel shaped like some kind of Earth animal with ears and all. (Petra had identified it as a 'cat', and apparently the twosouls liked them too.)

“Hey, Spider!” she said, hands on her hips as she looked up at him. “Thanks for helping me out with Saint’s weapon!”

He chuckled. The Lightmonger had blasted through a great number of the Spider’s enemies for information on an old dead _acquaintance_ of his and a little easy translation work. “The pleasure was all mine, of course.”

“But how come your bounties don’t give Glimmer any more?” She still picked them up, doing his work for him - a small price to pay for a handful of Etheric Spirals, if he did say so himself.

The Spider spread two of his arms out to mimic a helpless gesture even as one of his guards quietly chittered in displeasure - the gesture meant something entirely different to an Eliksni, of course. “Supply and demand, my friend. Why, I’m flush with Etheric Spirals right now. Glimmer, now that’s in shorter supply.”

“Well, I need some more,” she said, pouting. “Saint needs some so he can bring his boyfriend home.”

That...wasn’t what the Hunter had said it was for. The Spider leaned forward. “Do tell.”

The Titan looked up to the ceiling, as if she was trying to remember how it went. “We need to donate all the Fractaline to the Tower Obelisk because Osiris is trapped on Mercury until he cleans up the mess with the Sundial. So I need more Glimmer to buy ranks with the other Obelisks to get more Fractaline. What do you got?”

He had an excess of Glimmer, and she walked away significantly poorer in Legendary Shards. The information that Saint-14 was possibly romantically connected to Osiris alone had been worth the trade, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. What Guardians didn’t know could only help the Spider.

\----

“Welcome, my friend. How is my favorite Guardian?”

This one was a taciturn Warlock dressed in mismatched armor and colors who merely grunted in response, prompting a chuckle from the Spider. “What’ll it be today? Enhancement Cores?” Those were his steadiest-selling item, so he wasn’t surprised at a nod from the Warlock. But when the Warlock’s hand hovered over the pile of Glimmer on display, the Spider crossed his lower arms. “Twenty Simulation Seeds. No less.”

The Guardian’s Ghost materialized and the Spider had to keep from trying to snatch it out of the air, occupying his hands with a dead shell instead. This Ghost was a lovely specimen, all bright red and glowing with a flower-like shell. It would complement his collection nicely, but then it spoke and the Spider sighed in disappointment. “That’s highway robbery! We don’t have to pay that!”

“Yes, we do,” said the Warlock, shrugging. “It’s crooked, but it’s the only game in town.”

The Spider slapped his leg, howling with laughter. “That’s the best compliment I’ve heard in a long time! For you, my friend, a bargain - twenty Simulation Seeds.”

“That’s the same price you said before!” the Ghost sputtered, but the Warlock snorted softly in laughter and handed over the Seeds, shaking his head.

“And what are you using this Glimmer for? Call it _professional curiosity_ ,” he added at the Warlock’s dubious look.

True to form, the Warlock shrugged and answered anyway. “Something to do. And Trials.”

The Spider waited for elaboration, but the Warlock waved and transmatted out as soon as he had his supplies. He activated his commlink and growled into it in Eliksni. “Arrha. See what you can find out about something called ‘ _Trials_ ’. Some kind of Lightmonger ritual.”

\----

When he learned the answer to his question, the Spider almost couldn’t stop laughing. The Guardians were taking all his Glimmer at premium prices so they could get a chance to murder each other more efficiently?

Yes, there was stabilizing the timeline. Yes, there was doing a favor for the legendary Titan figurehead who had returned from the dead, as Guardians were wont to do in the first place. And yes, there was the boredom of immortals, who did their bounties because they had nothing better to do.

But this ‘Trials’ - a highly competitive murder-fest full of Guardians trying to meet Osiris’s insane standards of perfection? Oh, that was too rich.

He was going to make _so_ much money off the odds on Trials. What a wonderful gift. Impressed despite himself, he brought out a ledger and marked a single name off it.

“We’ll call this one even, old man. This time.”


End file.
